Chapter 81: Apollo's Confession, Catching the Dark Faction's Flaws!
Shirou pocketed the black ball into the hole, firmly cementing his victory in this divine gamble.
With this, he effectively completed his second outright defeat of a god's divine power, achieving a miracle by winning in the area where his divine opponent was strongest.
When Apollo learned of this outcome, he was completely stunned, standing there like a lost soul, motionless for a long time without coming back to his senses.
Though Loki and Freya were merely spectators, faced with such a shocking result, their hearts were deeply shaken.
"To actually outright defeat Apollo's Extreme Fortune?"
Loki murmured, utterly astonished by Shirou's victory.
"Really... won..." Freya's reaction was similar.
Though from the start, they were confident Shirou had the confidence to defeat Apollo, hence daring to engage in this divine gamble, the reality of actually seeing it was still worlds apart from mere imagination.
At least, neither expected the process to be so dramatic or the result so stunning.
After Apollo's defeat in the divine gamble, the operation rights of the casino almost instantly shifted from Apollo's Familia to those of Loki's and Freya's Familias.
This was according to the original wager Shirou had made with Apollo.
He had no intention of handing the casino over to the Hestia Familia, since such a dangerous business cannot be sustained if the Familia itself lacks sufficient strength.
If Apollo's Familia hadn't relied on the Ganesha Familia as its backing, it would have been impossible to run the casino so smoothly.
Now, aside from Apollo's Familia, only the Loki and Freya Familias were capable of taking on the hot potato that was the casino.
Since it would be jointly ruled by these two major Familias, there was no worry about them abusing the casino's power, and they would strive to maintain a new order for the casino.
At least, judging from the nature of the Loki and Freya Familias, there was absolutely no chance they would have any ties to the dark faction.
Aside from the transfer of the casino's rights, Shirou's wager with Apollo had two other conditions.
One was that Apollo's Familia must be completely disbanded, and the god Apollo would be banished from Orario, never allowed to return to this labyrinthine city.
Since 99% of the monsters in this world are concentrated in the underground labyrinths of Orario, leaving Orario meant it was practically impossible to rebuild a strong Familia — only endless decline lay ahead.
Therefore, being expelled from Orario was basically a death sentence for a god; for a proud god like Apollo, this might be even more painful than death.
The other condition was that Apollo must reveal everything he knew about the dark faction.
Because this contract was confirmed by both Loki and Freya, as a god Apollo could not resist such a written agreement and had to comply with the terms.
"Then, before you are banished from Orario, tell us everything you know, Apollo."
Loki swaggered over to the dazed Apollo.
The contrast between the two gods was stark; the difference in rank was huge.
However, perhaps because Apollo had given up on himself, he no longer felt regret over his defeat but instead became calm.
Not only did he refrain from any impulsive behavior, but he also slowly spoke with a nearly calm attitude:
"Alright, alright, since you're so eager to know about the dark faction, I'll tell you."
"You really do have ties with the dark faction," Loki frowned.
"Apollo, you built this casino with the support of the guild and the Ganesha Familia; how can you live up to the trust of the guild and Ganesha Familia?"
"Hmph, you seem to have misunderstood a premise," Apollo looked coldly at Loki, then glanced at Shirou and Freya nearby.
"My connection to the dark faction did not happen before I contacted the Ganesha Familia or the guild — it happened afterward.
It's precisely because I got too close to the Ganesha Familia and the guild that I ended up involved with those troublesome matters."
"What?"
Upon hearing Apollo's words, not only did Loki's expression become serious, but Shirou and Freya also looked displeased.
After all, if Apollo was telling the truth, then the so-called dark faction was probably not some hidden rats quietly scurrying in the shadows of Orario.
Instead, they had already silently infiltrated gigantic entities like the Ganesha Familia and the guild.
"Apollo, are you trying to mislead us into opposing the Ganesha Familia and the guild?" Loki said coldly.
"Who would believe such a thing? Orario's existence was founded entirely by the guild, represented by the god Ouranos, from the very beginning.
How could the guild possibly have ties to the dark faction?
And the Ganesha Familia is even more closely tied to Ouranos and is the Familia most connected to the guild.
How could they possibly have any dealings with the dark faction?"
"I'm just telling the truth as you requested," Apollo waved his hand.
"A god's contract cannot be broken; you all should know that principle.
If you don't trust me even after this, then I have no other choice."
Apollo's words plunged Loki and Freya into silence.
Both gods clearly understood the binding force of contracts made by gods — unless the other party wished to stop staying in the mortal realm and was ready to be forcibly returned to the heavens, everything they said had to be true.
But this still made the two gods find it hard to believe.
As Familias of Orario, their trust in the guild was ingrained deeply.
How could they believe that the guild gathering adventurers had any connection to the dark faction?
"Maybe there's a traitor inside the guild," Shirou's attitude was more rational compared to Loki and Freya's blind trust.
"An organization as large as the guild is unlikely to have no traitors in the dark faction.
It's probably that a traitor has infiltrated and made contact with Apollo."
"That... could indeed be possible," Loki nodded.
"But what about the Ganesha Familia? Familia members should be absolutely loyal to their god and can't lie in front of the god.
How could a traitor from the dark faction exist inside the Ganesha Familia?"
Loki's doubt left Shirou with no answer.
After all, Shirou truly knew nothing about the Ganesha Familia and was completely unaware of their situation.
After a brief moment of thought, Loki and Freya could only remain reserved on the issue of ties between the guild, the Ganesha Familia, and the dark faction.
The two goddesses would rather believe Apollo was misleading them and giving false information.
Loki further questioned Apollo: "You said you got involved with the Guild and Ganesha Familia through dealings with the Dark Faction. So who exactly did you negotiate with?"
"I don't know."
"You're still being stubborn at a time like this?"
"No, I really don't know," Apollo said with the look of a pig unafraid of boiling water. "My contact with the Dark Faction was extremely limited—or rather, I was just being used unilaterally. They passed information to me through messages and arranged for me to carry out their instructions, but I never met with any contact person."
"So mysterious? Then why did you act according to their requests?" Loki asked suspiciously.
"Of course, because of this casino." Apollo waved his hand silently. "There's no end to the shady dealings in the casino. Since the Guild and Ganesha Familia helped me set it up, they naturally hold a lot of dirt on it—black ledgers and such. If those were exposed, I'd be done for on the spot. So I had no choice but to do as I was told."
"I see..." Loki acknowledged Apollo's words.
But this also meant that Apollo's lead had been cut off.
Apollo knew almost nothing about the Dark Faction—he couldn't even be said to know anything at all. He couldn't provide any valuable clues.
Under these circumstances, Shirou took the initiative to ask: "You don't know much about the Dark Faction, but do you know anything about the mutated monsters on the 20th floor?
You sent people there at the time and even stated you would use members of other Familias accompanying the expedition as test subjects, didn't you?
You should know what the Dark Faction was doing there."
"I do know about that." Apollo shot Shirou a glance, still seemingly bitter about his earlier failure. "According to the Dark Faction, what they were doing on the 20th floor was a ritual—a sacrificial rite to summon some kind of being from deeper within the Dungeon."
"A ritual? A being from deeper within the Dungeon?"
"That's right. Similar experiments had been conducted many times before, but they could only be done in the deep layers of the Dungeon. This time, because of a major breakthrough in the experiment, they managed to move it to the mid-levels, like the 20th floor."
"Wait!" Loki caught a critical detail in Apollo's words. "You said they used to do it in the deep layers, and now they've moved to the mid-levels. Don't tell me their next target is—?"
"Yeah. If their plan is still moving forward, I'm afraid the next step will be to attempt summoning similar monsters on the upper levels—or even on the surface."
Apollo described this with a nonchalant attitude, but the information he revealed caused the expressions of the two goddesses and Shirou present to turn extremely grave.
After all, based on what he said, the Dark Faction's long-running plan was approaching its final stages.
If their plan were to succeed, Orario wouldn't just suffer a serious blow—it would face utter devastation.
Because the surface of Orario was filled with ordinary residents. If they were attacked by those massive Dungeon monsters, there would be no way to resist. In the blink of an eye, hundreds or even thousands could die.
"We have to stop this!" Loki and Shirou quickly made their decision.
Freya, however, still seemed relatively indifferent.
After all, she didn't take much interest in matters unrelated to herself.
The only reason she had gotten involved in Apollo Familia's affairs this time was because Apollo might target Shirou—otherwise she wouldn't have intervened at all.
"Apollo, tell us everything useful you know!" Loki was done with patience—this wasn't an interrogation anymore, she simply demanded Apollo spill all his information.
Apollo seemed to fall into thought at this. After pondering for a long while, he finally replied slowly: "Because I was always dealing with them indirectly—and also because I myself am not a Dark god—I never had much contact with those Dark Faction people. But there was one time when I had a direct encounter with someone from the Dark Faction."
"You met someone from the Dark Faction?"
"Yeah. That guy seemed like he wanted to recruit me into their camp—he wanted me to fully throw myself onto the opposite side of order.
So he came to invite me directly. But no matter how unreliable I may seem, I'm still the glorious Sun God, Apollo! I have to walk under the sun. How could I possibly join some damn Dark Faction?"
"..." Though Apollo's reason for refusing to join the Dark Faction was a bit absurd, it was actually quite reasonable.
If a Sun God were to join a dark organization, it would be tantamount to throwing away all divine dignity.
"What did the person you met look like?"
"I don't know. The guy wore a white robe—you couldn't see his face at all," Apollo shook his head. "But even though I didn't see his face, I did hear some relevant information. The most important thing was this: the Dark Faction supposedly has a hidden base somewhere in the Pleasure Quarter. That's how they were able to contact me and even meet with me so brazenly."
"The Pleasure Quarter..."
"I don't know if it's the Ishtar Familia, or some other Familia in the Pleasure Quarter, but there's definitely a connection. Otherwise, I don't believe the Dark Faction could have established a base there so easily, right under our noses, without any cover."
Apollo revealed all the clues he had about the Dark Faction.
Location.
Though much of it was subjective speculation, it was still undeniably the most solid intelligence Shirou and the others had obtained about the Dark Faction so far.
Previously, they only had a vague sense that the Dark Faction was planning something in the Dungeon, but had no way to track them. Now, at least they had a specific target to investigate.
However, Loki's expression didn't brighten.
On the contrary, facing the hard-won clues, her expression became even more serious than before.
"A hidden base in the Pleasure Quarter? That's quite a dangerous lead," she said.
"What's the problem?" Shirou looked at Loki in confusion. "With the power of the Loki Familia and Freya Familia, can't we just storm the Pleasure Quarter and find the Dark Faction's base?"
"You're thinking too simply." Loki shook her head at Shirou's idea. "The Familias that survive in a gray area like the Pleasure Quarter are never easy to deal with. Let's not talk about Apollo Familia, but the rest are all troublesome, especially the Ishtar Familia."
"The Ishtar Familia?"
"Yeah. You know Freya is a goddess of beauty, right? Ishtar is also a goddess of beauty.
And the Ishtar Familia, like the Freya Familia, is a powerful faction.
Their members not only include Level 5s, but they're also rumored to have special methods capable of contending with Level 6 adventurers. So if we don't want to spark an all-out war between Familias, there's no way we can just barge into the Ishtar Familia to conduct an investigation."
Loki directly shut down the idea of a forced investigation in the Pleasure Quarter.
Unless they got permission from the Ishtar Familia, they wouldn't be able to uncover the truth about the Dark Faction.